


Part 6: The Mansion of Lord Lester

by HeroOfMorderan



Series: Hero of Morderan [6]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 05:27:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12162444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeroOfMorderan/pseuds/HeroOfMorderan





	Part 6: The Mansion of Lord Lester

We walked around the perimeter of the gate to the back of the building. The only exterior windows were on the second floor, too high for either of us to reach. We ended up getting lucky, though. At the back of the mansion, there was a small grate on the floor, leading into what was some kind of basement. The coast was clear, so we jumped the fence and approached the grate. 

Breaking in turned out to be the easy part, figuring out what to do next was going to be the challenge. A creature had summoned something from fire back in the park, then came to the mansion of Lord Lester, the man in charge of the town, who conveniently went to Vastfield around the time all this started. Do you think I was suspicious? I was suspicious. Esmerelda told us earlier that leaving was a thing he did sometimes, to lend aid to the new city, but I don’t buy it. Vastfield is too big and rich for some guy from a small town to be their advisor.

So, then we were in Lord Lester’s basement. It was gross, and if you remember, I was once surrounded by humanoid lizard egg sacks, so turns out I know what gross is. It smelled terrible, all humid and moldy, like no one had come down here since it was built. Dust covered the shelves and boxes. The cold stone floor rounded out the uncomfortable and generally unpleasant basement setting. I opened a few crates sitting around, just books and plates, some tools and gardening equipment, nothing too out of the ordinary. It looked to be a storage space for things never used.

When we finished being unsatisfied with the basement, we crept up the short flight of steps to the closed door at the top. Taking a moment to listen, we only heard a silent, still air on the other side. It wasn’t a question of if something was in the house, but where. After instinctually checking for traps, I slowly pushed the door open. 

The basement opened to a living room. The moonlight shining through the drawn curtains casted shadows over the furniture on top of the area rug. I felt cold, something was wrong. Then it occurred to me: nothing’s wrong, and that’s exactly what’s wrong. The rest of the town is destroyed, why is the mansion so organized and clean? 

On the left wall of the living room was a painting. It was a man in full armor, posing with a sword. He had flowing blond hair, and his emerald green eyes looked off into the distance. He had a small scar under his left eye. On the bottom of the frame was a small plaque: “Lord Lester”. The front door was here, too, presumable locked. Across the room was a set of stairs leading up to the next floor.

Moving through the living room, we found what must have been the dining room. The long oak table was set with detailed china. More plates and cups filled a cupboard on the wall. With every step I took, I expected to encounter that creature. My hand never left my sword. Looking back on it, I think that was the first time I broke into someone’s house. I know it’s wrong, but it was kind of fun. I liked seeing what kind of stuff people have in their home. It’s not like I’m going to pick it up as a hobby, but if a mission calls for it, I won’t have a problem volunteering.

The last room on the ground floor was a kitchen. It had the kinds of things you would expect, a nice fireplace and cauldron, knives on the table, but there were also things I’ve never seen in a kitchen before. There were herbs and some kind of clear liquid in vials. Curtlik didn’t know what it was, but thought we shouldn’t mess with it. I took a vial when she wasn’t looking.

There was also a cupboard in the kitchen. It had more ingredients and food, so we decided it was alright to stock up for future meals. While we were searching, we found this interesting bandanna. It was leather, with yellow spirals around the circumference. 

“What’s this?” I asked Curtlik.

“I don’t know, some kind of bandanna.” She answered.

“Why is in the pantry?”

“I don’t know, maybe Lester was hiding it?” She was turning it over in her hands, it was a weird thing.

“Should we take it?” I’ll admit, I was getting excited about taking stuff. I may have gotten carried away. 

“Don’t you think that’s wrong?” Curtlik questioned, now untying the bandanna and wrapping it around her arm. 

“I mean, it’s here. And this guy doesn’t seem that great, so why not?”

“But I mean, morally. We’re supposed to be good and helping, should we really also be stealing?” Curtlik had a point, but I really wanted it. Sure, it was probably silly that we started debating morality in the pantry of some guys mansion, but at least there wasn’t a wolf with us.

“What if we give it back if he asks for it? If he doesn’t know it’s missing, then he doesn’t really want it in the first place.” I countered.

“I guess, and it could help us. We don’t know what it does, it could be cursed.”

“I’ll put it on.” I was eager to have it.

“Sure, I don’t see why not. No one else is using it.” Curtlik handed me the bandanna. 

“Exactly!” I took it and put it on. The bandanna felt cool around my head. I don’t really know how to explain it. I had seen everything in the room already, but with the bandanna on, I was able to really be aware of it all. It was like I could see it better, like there was a fog over everything that suddenly lifted when I put it on. Everything was crisper, easier to see, like a sun finally breaking through the clouds. 

“This is cool.” I remarked. Looking around the room as if I was seeing it for the first time. 

“Should we keep going?” Curtlik offered, growing bored of the small room. 

Ascending to the top floor, the wooden steps creaked under our feet. The new bandanna gave me a boost of confidence, and so I elected to go first. That thing had to be up here, there was nowhere else for it to be. Our bows let the way to the top of the steps.

The stairs opened to a small room. In the far right corner was an armored statue standing guard. I was suspicious, but I trusted my senses and they told me it was safe. Opposite the guard on the left wall was a door, and to the left of the door was a hallway. The list of places that creature could be continued to shrink, as I grew more anxious in anticipation of our encounter. 

 

The fear I felt was unlike that of our previous battles. I think I was more scared of not knowing. The unknown creature, the townspeople transforming, it was all so mysterious. The dark mansion didn’t help the atmosphere much either. Before, I knew what I was fighting. I knew what the situation was, and I had some expectation of what was ahead of me. Now, I’m blind. I don’t know what to do. Rather, I don’t feel like I have a choice. 

That’s the worst thing: not knowing and not being able to do anything. At this point, I’ve fought some scary stuff, but this tops it all. I have to trust. I have to trust myself and my skills, and I have to trust Curtlik. I have to trust that we can get through this together, and I do. If there’s one thing I can bet on, it’s that, together, she and I can take anything.

“So, which way do we go?” I asked. I didn’t have much of an intuition.

“Let’s do the door. I’ll open it, and you can rush in.” Curtlik moved to the door, putting a hand on the handle. Quietly testing it, the handle resisted turning.

“It’s locked, I guess I’ll kick.”

Standing to her side, Curtlik kicked in the door. I rushed behind the splintered wood as Curtlik followed closely behind. We lowered our bows to the empty room. I know what you’re thinking, yes. Kicking down a door does create a lot of noise, and the creature thing probably heard us. It was our only choice. Now be quiet, you’ll find out what happens.

The room was some kind of study. There was a desk on the far side of the room and a beautiful nature painting behind it. On the left was a small bar with a fine selection of wines, which were all very good, by the way. The rest of the room was comfortably decorated, but what was interesting was the desk. On it was a map of Nas. A section of the woods on the edge of town was circled in red.

“Do you think this is where the creature when?” I asked, looking at the map.

“I don’t know, but it’s worth checking out after this.” Curlik answered, rolling up the map to take with us.

“Do you know what’s out there?” I knew there were mines around here, maybe one was at the center of the circle.

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll find out.” 

I really stared to embrace snooping. I figured, if I got this cool bandanna, what else could I get? My hands tested the drawers to the desk. The ones that were opened didn’t have much in them, but there was one that Lester locked. Interesting.

“Hey, Curtlik, this one’s locked.” I called, pulling at the drawer.

“So open it.” She was too busy looking at the wine selection to be interested.

“Lock picking really isn’t my thing, can you do it?” I asked, pocking my head up from the desk.

“Nope.”

“What!? Why?” I stood up.

“If you want it opened, you do it. It’ll be good practice.” She knew she could open it, no problem. She wanted to mess with me! I was vexed. 

“At least give me your lock pick, I don’t have anything.” I begged. It was either that or I smash the desk.

So, we sat. I worked on the lock and Curtlik sat on the desk. She paged through a book she found on the shelf and I continued to get frustrated.

“You think this is the best time to do this? We need to keep exploring the house.” I argued, trying to get her to do this for me.

“You’ll never learn if you don’t do it, and I’m not the one who wanted to open the drawer. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

“You’re enjoying this.” I said, maybe trying to guilt her into helping.

“Yup.”

“You stink.”

“Okay.”

 

It didn’t help that she didn’t care. It only made me more frustrated. Looking back, I was probably frustrated with myself for not being able to do it. The longer I took, the more I was embarrassing myself. But also, like, what the heck! We’re trying to get through this and she thinks it’s a good time to teach me a lesson! 

I kept at it, and after a few minutes, the drawer clicked open. I’ll have you know, it actually didn’t take me very long, just a few minutes.

“About time.” Curtlik said when she heard the lock. She was joking, but it didn’t help. She set the book down and hoped off the desk. “What’s in it?”

“Oh, so now you’re interested!” It wasn’t much, unfortunately. I regretted putting in all that work for a stupid letter, but a letter was better than nothing. Plus, it was a nice letter.

The letter was in an envelope with a broken seal of Vastfield. The letter read:

My love,

 

We just sold the latest of the items, you can come up to retrieve your cut when you have time to get away. I also long to see you, it has been too long. I wanted to tell you that I am pregnant, and that I want to leave the Dragon Scale. I haven’t told them yet, I fear Luthmire will become violent, but I cannot do this with a child. We have made enough gold from this, we can live a good life together. I was thinking Desca if it is a girl, I think that is a pretty name. Come up what you can, I will be waiting for you.

 

Always Yours,

 

Bessel

 

“Who are they?” I asked, after reading the letter aloud. 

“Let me see.” I handed the letter to Curtlik, who re-read the letter.

“Lady Bessel is the current leader of Vastfield. She and Luthmire must have gotten romantically involved over the course of his visits. I’ve never heard of Luthmire, but it sounds like he’s part of the Dragon Scale. The Dragon Scale is a secret underground crime organization. They’re about as big as they are complicated, so I can’t get into much detail explaining it now, but they’re powerful. We’ve had spies try to get information since King Thalias and the Great War.”

“That sounds really bad, what were they doing getting involved with something like that?” I wondered. What’s going on in Vastfield? What the heck is going on in Morderan! We’ve got secret underground crime organizations, transforming towns people, dead evil kings who, turns out, aren’t really dead. It all makes me appreciate Haledine way more. 

“I wouldn’t know. Maybe Esmerelda has an idea. If we ever talk to her again, let’s find out.” Curtlik answered.

Making her way to the door, she turned.

“But let’s go, we’ve spent enough time here.” I pocketed the letter and followed.

The hallway next to the door was short, and ended with another door. Stopping to listen, we found what we came for. A low chanting in a language neither of us recognized bled through the door. Listening closer, it sounded like water bubbling, like it was boiling. Readying our bows, I offered Curtlik the door, which she graciously accepted by kicking in. 

There he was. That green, dry skin, lanky goblin looking things with long black hair. He was sitting cross legged, his back towards us, in the center of a pentagram drawn across the floor. A ruby, sapphire, and emerald rested on three corners of the star, and inside the triangle wedges where the gems sat were a standing flame, a ball of boiling water, and a vine growing from the ground.

Candles covered the ground, and a glaive rested behind him. The door definitely made noise when we opened it, so I was sure he heard us, but he made no action to acknowledge our entrance. Fine with me, I thought, and moved closer to the creature. 

I stepped forward, into the room, and was hit back with a terrible, invisible force. Flying back, I landed hard against the wall in the hallway, falling to my knees and dropping my bow. I looked up to see Curtlik react. She let loose her arrow, sending it point blank towards the goblin creature. It wasn’t a goblin, but I don’t know what it was, and I don’t have any other way to describe it. I guess I’ll make up a name for it. This thing, was called a thrasher. It’s a cool name. 

Well, Curtlik shot at the thrasher, and as soon as her arrow cleared the entrance, it froze, dead in mid-air, before it too got launched back into the hallway. 

I sat on the ground, wondering what we could do against an invisible force field. Luckily, I didn’t have to think for long, because in a moment, the small flame burst to life, the flames licking the ceiling, the re-directing themselves into the ruby before disappearing entirely. The boiling water swam up into the air, curving and turning in on itself. Then it traveled across the ground to the sapphire, disappearing into the gem. Finally, the vine grew high, then dipped to retract into the emerald. The center of each gem began to glow brightly, bathing the room in red, blue, and green.

The thrasher rose and collected the three gems in a canvas bag. When he finally turned, his eyes widened and he took a step back, almost as if he was surprised to see us. This was the first time I saw his face. It was small, scrunched like he ate something sour that also smelled horribly. He lacked a nose. Instead, there were just two small slits above his mouth. 

Once he was us, he took another step back. Gently, he lowered the bag of gems to the ground, then moved to his glaive on the floor. He wasn’t fast, he was taking his time, like moving any faster would spook us. Like he still had a trap for us. We were ready. I was up, and Curtlik and I both had our swords ready. 

Walking to his glaive, he slowly bent down, never breaking eye contact with us. What is he doing? I thought to myself. I hope you haven’t forgotten about that epic battle music, because now’s the time to start imagining it. 

The instant his hand touched the glaive, he rushed forward, closing the space between us in one brief moment. Now, I don’t know if you know what a glaive is. As far as I know, you don’t, so unless you’ve come across one wherever you’ve been, I’m going to assume you still don’t. It’s a long staff, and you use two hands to fight with it. One end has a long razor blade, like a saw, and the other has a sharp hook, like a scythe. Well the thrasher had a glaive, and both rushed through the door.

I think we were both taken off guard with his burst of speed, because we just had time to react to his attack. He was good. Even in such close quarters, he spun himself around the hall, swinging both ends of the glaive at us. Curtlik and I got separated, with the thrasher between us. Every time I swung, a different end of the glaive caught my attack, and I would only have just enough time to react before the other end swung around to hit me. 

He was relentless, never missing a beat or losing his balance. What’s worse was that our only fighting style of switching out wasn’t going to work here, we were both giving this guy everything we had. We really should work on other fighting techniques. 

I don’t know how she did it, but Curtlik started pushing the thrasher back down the hall towards the stairs. With her playing offense, I just had to play defense and walk back with the group. 

Emerging into the small room at the top of the steps, I rotated around to join Crutlik’s side. Combining our force on one side, we were able to push the thrasher further. 

“The steps.” I heard Curtlik grunt under her swings. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I had a good idea, and started directing the focus of my attacks. Between the two of us, we cornered the thrasher at the top of the steps. One mighty swing sent him falling back.

 

If you thought that was cool, you just wait. I’ll be honest, I had no idea what came over me, but I was in the full heat of battle. I was feeling all the rage. Seeing the thrasher on the ground at the bottom of the steps, I decided to do the only thing I thought was reasonable. I instinctually, and I mean without hesitation- Curtlik was about to run down the steps and I cut her off, I leaped off the top step. In mid-air, I pointed the tip of my sword down, and landed it clean through the chest of the thrasher. His body jerked up from the impact, the settled still on the ground, dead.

It wasn’t a clean landing, I was definitely feeling it the next day, but it was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done, and Curtlik saw it! And guess what she did when I looked up to her in triumph? She scoffed! *scoff* That was amazing! She just did a quick cough laugh thing and walked back down the hallway. I don’t know what to do to impress this woman!

So, I rushed back up the steps to her. When I caught up, she was in the pentagram room, looking at the sack of gems.

“Um, hey! You just walked off!”

“The fight was over.” She responded flatly, focused on the gems. 

“I don’t know, I did a thing.” I said, sheepishly. 

“Yeah, I saw, you killed it.” She was as dry as ever, almost intentionally so.

“In a really cool way!” That got a smile out of her, but she fought it back.

“What do you think that thing wanted with those gems?” She asked, finally making eye contact for the first time in what seemed like forever. I welcomed her smile, and I knew she noticed.

“I don’t know, probably has something to do with that map. Do you know what that was?” 

“Now that I got a good look at it, yeah. I don’t know the specific race, but it’s not from Morderan.”

“What do you mean? How can something not be from Morderan?” I had no idea what she was saying. Basically, things that I see aren’t real all the time.

“Well, Morderan is just one plane of existence. There are more, this thing came from one of them.”

“Galithan?” I asked.

“Maybe, but he didn’t invite demons last time, so this might be different. We’ll probably get more answers if we follow that map.” She responded.

“Sounds good, let’s figure out what’s going on, hu?”


End file.
